Material gathering and loading machine



April 12, 1938. R. H. KRAFT MATERIAL GATHERING AND LOADING MACHINE Original Filed July 31, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet l Jive/liar R. H. KRAFT 2,113,733

MATERIAL GATHERING AND LOADING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 12, 1938.

Original Filed July 31, 1953 i "WM 2 H, H n H 11 Hi Mme;

April 12, 1938. R. H. KRAFT MATERIAL GATHERING AND LOADING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Original Filed July 31, 1953 Q E g Patented Apr. 12, 1938 2,113,133 MATERIAL GATHERING AND LOADING mourns Robert H. Kraft, Chicago, 11].,

man Manufacturing Company,

corporation of Illinois Application July asslgnor to Good- Chlcago, 111., a

31, 1933, Serial No. 682,982

Renewed August 23, 193'! 22 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in material gathering andloading machines particularly adapted for loading coal at the working face of a mine and has as its principal objects to provide a simple and efficient gathering mechanism for a machine of the class described including a pair of endless chains extending along each side of an elevating conveyer and forwardly of the forward end thereof for gathering material in advance of the conveyer along the ground and depositing it thereon.

Other objects of my invention are to provide a novel form and arrangement of gatheringarms which will hold the gathering mechanism in engagement with the ground during the loading operation, and also to provide a means to prevent the gathering arms from carrying material laterally beyond the conveyer at their outward turning point away from the conveyer.

Other objects of my invention will appear from time to time as the following specification proceeds.

' My invention may best be understood with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a loading machine illustrating one form in which my invention may be embodied;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the device shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the forward portion of the device shown in Figure 2 with parts broken away and in section to more clearly show the details of my invention;

Figure 4 is an enlarged partial fragmentary vertical transverse sectional view looking towards the rear end of the machine showing certain details of the support and drive to the front conveyer; and

Figure 5 is an enlarged partial fragmentary sectional view looking towards the rear end of the'machine taken through the drive mechanism for the gathering element.

Referring now in particular to the drawings illustrating one form in which my invention may 4 be embodied, a truck or main frame I is provided which, as herein shown, is carried on laterally spaced continuous tread devices H, II. A gathering and loading element, generally indicated by reference character I2, is mounted on 50 the forward end of said main frame and extends forwardly and downwardly therefrom, at an incline, towards the ground and is adjustable with respect to the ground about a horizontal transverse axis disposed adjacent its rear end. A dis- 65 charge conveyer I3 is carried on the main frame Ill.

Said discharge conveyer is horizontally adjustable about a vertical axis disposed adjacent its forward end and is vertically adjustable with respect thereto about point disposed beneath a horizontal transverse axis. Said discharge conveyer extends from a the discharge. end of the gathering and loading element l2 beyond said main frame for discharging material into suitable receptacles, such as A suitable means is provided for affording a mine cars.

source of power for driving the gathering and loading element If; for vertically adjusting said gathering and loading element with respect to the mine bottom; for driving the laterally spaced continuous tread devices H;

and for driving the discharge conveyer l3 and adjusting said discharge conveyer with respect both vertical and horizon in shown, includes a pair ordinary electrical type.

to the main frame l0 about tal axes which, as hereof motors l4, H of an Each of said motors is suitably secured to one side of the main frame It! and is disposed between of each laterally spaced II and extends laterally and continuous tread devices.

the top and bottom runs continuous tread device from said main frame The axes of rotation of said motors extend transversely of the main frame "I,

and said axes are herein shown of said motors is provided with a suitable motor pinion which meshes with and drives a spur g ear Hi. The spur gears l6, l6 are keyed on opposite ends of a transversely extending shaft I],

which shaft forms a common drive member for effecting operation of the machine through gearing. Said gearing a novel arrangement of drive arrangement has been clearly described in Patent No. 2,024,458 which issued on December 17,

1935 and was divided from this application, so will only herein be described in so far as is present invention readily understandable.

With reference now in necessary to make my particular to the details of the gathering and loading element. l2 and several of the novel features of my invention,

brackets 45, extend upwardly from opposite sides of the main frame end thereof and are secured thereto.

conveyer frame 46 is ID adjacent the forward An inclined carried between said brackets on a transverse shaft 41 for pivotal -movement with respect to said main frame.

conveyer frame 48 is secured between the brackets rearwardly from said inclined a horizontal direction.

45, 45 and extends conveyer frame in The conveyer frames 46 and 48 together form a guide frame for a suitable conveying means for elevating material and discharging it into the frame and are trained around sprockets 53, 53 keyed on a transversely extending shaft 54 disposed adjacent the forward end of said inclined conveyer frame. From said sprockets, chains extend upwardly along the top surface of a plate 55 extending along said inclined conveyer frame and forming a bottom for the conveyer and along a plate 56 forming a bottom for the conveyer frame 48, to and around suitable drive sprockets keyed to a shaft 51 at the rear end of said last-mentioned conveyer frame.

The forward end of the gathering element rests on the ground on a shoe 59 which extends laterally across and beyond the sides of the forward portion of the conveyer frame 46.

veyer 49, and extends along opposite sides of said conveyer to form a support for a pair of elongated chain guides 6|, 6|. Said chain guides are secured to the upper side of said inclined apron end of said apron a substantial distance.

The apron 66, as herein shown, is parallel to the conveyer 49 and the chain guides 6|, 6| ex- A guide groove is are herein shown as being separated so said portions may be adiustably secured to the apron 66 to permit slack in the chain 65, to be taken up as said chain wears (see Fig. 1 The endless chains 65, 65 are flight. conveyer 49 in the following manner: Sprockets 6|, 6| are secured to the upper end of shafts 62, Journaled within housings 63, 63 secured to the underside of the apron 66 Said shafts extend substantially perpendicular to the inclined apron 69 and are driven at a slower rate of speed than the speed of the flight conveyer 49 to permit said flight conveyer to carry material away from the gathering arms 69, 69 as it is delivered thereon. Worm gears 64, 64 are secured to said shafts and are meshed with and driven from worms 65, 65 disposed adjacent opposite ends of the transversely extending shaft 54 which is driven from the sprockets 59, 53 and endless chains 56, 56 in an obvious manner.

The gathering means for picking up material driven from the are joined together.

from the ground and depositing it onto the flight a plurality of laterally extending spaced apart gathering arms 69, 69 pivotally connected to lugs 61, 61 extending outwardly from certain spaced links or blocks 66, 66 of said chain.

Said gathering arms are restrained from pivotal movement at their outward turning points away from the conveyer by means of pairs of parallel spaced links 1|, 1|. Each pair of said links is pivotally connected to clearing ma- 1 upper end thereof.

A plurality of bits 15, 15 of the ordinary pick point type, similar to those used in mining machine cutter chains, project from the outer ends 3 when necessary.

The gathering arms 69, 69 on tween opposite gathering arms, and with the upwardly and rearwardly inclined faces of said gathering arms enables said gathering arms to more readily clear material deposited on said conveyer at their outward turning points.

It may be seen from the foregoing that since the chain guides 6|, 6| extend along the ground beyond the apron parallel to the ground, when the shoe 59 is in eninclined forward engaging faces 14 of the gathering arms 69 tend to hold said gathering arms to the ground when gathering loose material which prevents climbing of the entire gathering mechanism in the coal during the loading operation.

Referring now in particular to the novel means which cooperate with the inclined forward faces of the gathering arms 69, 69 to deflect material onto the conveyer 49 as said gathering arms turn away therefrom, a pair of deflecting plates 16, 16 is provided. Each of said deflecting plates is spaced above the apron 66 a distance suilicient to permit a gathering flight 69 to pass therethrough. Said plates with said apron form passageways a i ns;

opening to the side of the. conveyer 48 at the out- Ward tu ni Pai which t n a a wardly an laterally alon each chain 'guide 6|.

flectingplates 15, 15 which 6|, 6] are flared upwardly to dewhich may fall from the conveyer.

to the rearward and outer a g i es fleet material I onto said plates into 10 ing plates are secured of the gathering arms 68,89,

from said conveyer and forthe retreating'side of Theportions of the deextend beyond the the coal face Said deflectsides] of the chain guides GL'GI by means of a pair of brackets, generally indicated by reference character 11, which are secured to the rear end and outer side of each chain guide, and a pair 15 of brackets I9, I9

jecting upwardly from apron.

Auxiliary vided r plates I6, 16 along the for collecting any loose thereon or may be suitably secured the outer deflecting members which extend rearwardly of the deflecting sides of the conveyer thrown thereon to and prosides of said 80, 80 are promaterial which falls by the gathering arms and deflecting said material onto said conveyer. 25

It may be seen from the foregoing that the links II, II plvotally connected between the lugs Ill, Ill and blocks l3, 13 of the chains 65, 65 serve to initially retard angular swinging movement 30 of said gathering arms as ering arm as it approaches of the deflecting plate deflect large lumps of they move away from the conveyer l9, and hold the angle of each gaththeengaging surface 16 in such a position as to material onto the conveyer and prevent crushing of said lumps between said gathering arms and the fleeting plate.

inner ends of said de- It may also be seen that said links position said gathering arms 69, 69 at their forward turning point along the ground, so they may efficiently gather material from said apron and prevent scattering of coal in front of said gathering and ing angular movement the conveyer when the front end of loading element by retardof said arms away from they first engage the loose material and then accelerating said arms to move the loose material onto said apron.

While I have herein shown and described one form in which my invention may be embodied, it

will be understood of and the arrangement of be altered without scope thereof. construed as departing Furthermore, I limiting myself to the specific emthat the construction therethe various parts may fromthe spirit and do not wish to be bodiment illustrated, excepting as it may be limited in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a loading machine, an orbitally guided endless chain, a gatherin ed on a link of said arm pivotally mountchain,

said gathering arm having a forward face inclined towards the rearward end thereof, means pivoted to the rearward side of said gathering arm having pivotal connection with another of the links of said chain for limiting rearward movement of said gathering arm and delaying the turning action thereof, and a deflecting member cooperating with the inclined face of said gathering arm for deflecting material away from said gathering arm.

2. A loading machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein the deflecting member is spaced above 70 the gathering arm.

3. A loading machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein the link means is connected is from the link to which 5 7 connected.

to which said supporting the second link rearwardly aid gathering arm is '1 wherein the 11m: towhich said supporting means is connected is the second link rearwardiy.

from the link to which said gathering arm is connected, and wherein the deflecting member is ,spaced above'the endless chain and gathering arm.

5. In a loading machine, a conveyer, an apron extending forwardly therefrom ,and laterally be yondthe sides thereof, gathering means mounted on said apron and extending along opposite sides of said conveyer including a pair of orbitally guided endless chains having spaced-apart gathering arms projecting laterally therefrom, and a deflecting shield disposed over each of said endless chains at the turning point of said arms away from the conveyer and forming a passageway between the under surfaces thereof and said apron through which said chains and gathering arms pass.

6. In a loading machine, a conveyer, an apron extending forwardly therefrom and laterally beyond the sides thereof, gathering means mounted on said apron and extending along opposite sides of said conveyer including a pair of orbitally guided endless chains having spaced-apart gathering arms projecting laterally therefrom, and a deflecting shield disposed over each of said endless chains at their turning point away from the conveyer, said deflecting shields forming a passageway between the under surface thereof and said apron, and theangles of said gathering arms with respect to said deflecting shields, as said gathering arms approach said passageways, being such that said arms coacting with said shields will deflect material onto said conveyer as they enter said passageway.

'7, A loading machine comprising an inclined conveyer, an inclined apron extending forwardly therefrom and laterally beyond the sides thereof and a pair of orbitally guided endless chains having gathering arms thereon carried by said inclined apron on opposite sides of said inclined conveyer and extending along said inclined conveyer and forwardly therefrom beyond the forward end of said inclined apron in such a manher that said gathering arms may engage and slide along the ground, and a deflecting shield disposed over the rearward and retreating portion of the path of travel of each endless chain, said deflecting shield forming a passageway between its under surface and said inclined apron and extending from a point where said endless chains move away from said inclined conveyer and around to and along the outer sides of said inclined apron.

8. In a loading machine, an inclined conveyer, an inclined apron extending along each side thereof and forwardly therefrom, a pair of chain guides on said apron extending along the sides of said conveyer and forwardly along said apron beyond the forward end thereof in a plane parallel to the ground, an endless chain guided in each of said chain guides, and gathering means on said endless chains including a plurality of spaced-apart gathering arms pivotally connected to links of said chains and adapted to engage and slide along the ground forwardly of said apron, a link pivotally connected to the rearward end of each of said gathering arms and extending angularly rearwardly therefrom towards said chain and having pivotal connection with other links of said chains for limiting pivotal movement of said gathering arms and delaying the turning action thereof when turning away from veyer, an elongated chain guide disposed to one overlap said conveyor, a supporting member pivmovement of said gathering arm as said chain is mg arm turns away from said inclined endless arm for deflecting material on to said conveyer as said gathering arm approaches said deflecting member.

10. A loading machine in accordance with claim 9 wherein the deflecting member is spaced above the gathering arm.

11. A loading machine in accordance with claim 9 wherein the gathering arm is provided with a relatively wide forward face inclined toward face of said gathering arm and deflecting lumps of material on to said conveyer.

12.1n a loading machine, a gathering and loading element comprising an inclined endless endless chain, and a deflecting member disposed 75 with respect to said deflecting member as they approach said deflecting member will be such as to deflect material on to said conveyer.

members.

17. A loading machine in accordance with claim 16 wherein the deflecting members are spaced above the gathering arms.

18. A loadingmachine in accordance with claim 16 wherein the gathering arms are pro- 19 wherein the under surface of said deflecting members form passageways between said apron and deflecting members, in which said gathering arms travel.

21. A loading machine in accordance with claim 19 wherein the gathering arms are pivoted to the endless chains and wherein means are provided for retarding angular movement of said gathering arms as they approach said deflecting mem bers so the angle of said gathering arms with respect to said deflecting members as said gathering arms approach said deflecting members is such as to deflect material on to said conveyer.

22. A loading machine in accordance with claim 19 wherein the gathering arms are pivoted to the endless chains, wherein means are provided to prevent rearward movement of said gathering arms with respect to said endless chains while moving along said apron and retard angular movement of said gathering arms with respect to said deflecting members as they move away from said inclined conveyer, and wherein the forward faces of said gathering arms are beveled towards their rearward end, so the angle of said gathering arms as they approach said deflecting members will be such as to deflectmaterial on to said conveyer.

ROBERT H. KRAFT. 

